Conditions take their toll

More injuries on board Cheyenne, now mid-Pacific

Day 33
Position at 0505GMT: 53 13.400 S 139 28.020 W
Course/speed: 79deg 15.6 knots
TWS/TWA: 21.0 knots 222deg

Steve Fossett and the crew of Cheyenne are currently midway between New Zealand and South America with just over 2,400 miles to go left in the Southern Ocean before they round Cape Horn and can head back up the Atlantic.

At present the American maxi-cat is sailing in moderate WNWerly winds and has been keeping north to avoid and area of light winds to the south. Last night they were head just southeast but by the 2300 sched they had gybed back to the northeast again. Their 24 hour run down the course up until 0505 this morning stands at 484 miles, although because they are gybing downwind at present they are sailing more miles than this.

Meanwhile the crew have been taking a beating. Steve Fossett sums up the situation:
"Despite 10 feet of freeboard, waves break over the side of Cheyenne. Last night Nick Leggatt was hit by surprise and his face was stopped by the compass. A nasty 2 inch gash on his left checkbone and a smaller cut on the bridge of the nose was the result. Dave Scully, our medic in addition to Watch Captain, got on the satellite telephone to our medical doctors at World Clinic. (a 24/7 medical service which is reachable worldwide by telephone or internet). The advice was to close the wounds with SteriStrip tapes, a course of antibiotics - and prompt attention in a medical facility (can't do everything!) Nick will be off the watch schedule for few days to allow proper initial healing but a serious scar is inevitable.

"I'm happy to report that Guillermo Altadill is fine after his knockdown earlier in the evening. His bruised ribcage in his back seems to have been caused by his harness which protects the helmsman from being blown out of the boat. He's fully able to continue all sailing activities.

"To reduce risk of more injuries, a temporary speed limit of 25 knots was implemented until the sea state reduced. We have escaped the severe conditions for the time being. - Steve"

Brian Thompson writes:

As I wrote yesterday, Guillermo was hit by a wave whilst driving and was winded badly as he hit the deck; fortunately he is better now after taking some ibuprofen tablets and just has some slight pain in the ribs.

However Nick did not fare so well... Just after writing that, I was on watch with Nick and Damian, Damian was driving and Nick holding the mainsheet just ahead of the steering pedestal. I was sitting under the cuddy looking back at them. A wave came over the side of the cockpit wall and covered them both. The boat speed was 20 knots at the time so the water pressure was high as Nick was pushed back on to the pedestal. Damian managed to duck behind the wheel. Nick was down on the side deck holding his head and as I went back there I could see in the moonlight the blood on the deck. I thought he had broken his nose.

I got him into the cuddy and with the headlamp had a quick look at his face - there was a gash under his left eye about 2 inches long, it was not a pretty sight. I left him for a second and went below to wake up Dave, our medic, and to clear some space on the bench below. At this point Nick said he was feeling fine and did not realise he had been cut at all. Once down below into the warmth Dave and Justin and Jacques looked after him and I went back on deck for the rest of the watch. After Dave had cleaned and taped up the cut as much as possible, Nick went to sleep and is going to rest up for a couple of days to keep the cut dry. It is a real shame that he was hurt and I hope that it heals up well, the only benefit is that it is good chance for him to catch up on his reading and emailing. We have transferred Fraser from Jacques’ watch to cover for Nick.

Otherwise we have been making steady progress eastwards towards the Horn. The low we were promised has turned out to be weaker than predicted, especially as we have gone southwards and closer to the low, where in this case the winds are less. We have spent most of the day sailing downwind with one reef, blast reacher and staysail. Just at sunset the cold front from the low has passed through, swinging the wind into the south. We are now carrying two reefs and the storm jib, and reaching eastwards. The forecasts are showing good amounts of moderate reaching winds for much of the passage to the Horn so that is good news. Yesterday we were looking at two gales to navigate so that has brought an improvement of a day in our projected ETA and reduced the risk of breakages.

Got to go on watch now,

Brian